The Weight of Living
by Niamh Cunningham
Summary: "You were in a coma? Well, I guess that explains why you were dumb enough to get yourself trapped in a tank surrounded by deadheads. Welcome to the apocalypse, rookie!" FOLLOW LEIA AS SHE STRUGGLES TO SURVIVE UNDER THE WEIGHT OF LIVING IN THE NEW WORLD
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everyone! Thanks so much for giving this fic a chance! This is my first multichapter story and I'm still fairly new to writing, so feedback would be much appreciated! Enjoy!**

* * *

"Hey, Uncle Ed!"

"What?"

"Where did all the beers go?"

He rolled his eyes at his niece who was in the other room down the corridor, "You drank them all, remember? The whole 'it's the end of the world, I don't give a crap' stuff the other night?"

Back in the kitchen, Leia let out a sigh and slammed the fridge door shut. She walked over to the cupboards, opening them to find they were almost bare. She pulled out the decaying crackers from the shelves, that's when she decided, "I need to go get some more supplies."

"Alright," her uncle called back, "Just, be careful, ok?"

She didn't reply, frustrated that her uncle couldn't even be bothered to leave his office and speak to her face-to-face. He was so wrapped up in his work nowadays it felt as though he had almost forgotten the situation outside. He was obsessed. Especially ever since her aunt turned into one of those things. That was when he almost completely blocked her out. But, she supposed she had to be grateful that they were safe. That's what mattered.

"Ok, I'll be back before sundown," she called out as she slipped on her boots and grabbed her backpack.

"Stay safe!"

She walked to the door before suddenly cursing, remembering what she had forgotten.

Running back into the kitchen, she grabbed her baseball bat off the counter and hurried back to the door. Taking her time to assess her surroundings before walking out into the open, she headed for the city.

Leia had been to the city plenty of times since the outbreak. All the local stores had pretty much been completely emptied and so the city as the only option left for her and her uncle. She knew what she was doing – stay quiet, stay alert and stay safe. Over the past month she had found many ways in and out of the city that allowed her to avoid any major streets, just in case. Leia always found herself dealing with a couple of the living dead every now and then but nothing too major. She knew how to handle them, though. Working in a bar gives you plenty of experience with hungry corpses. So, entering the city, she found a small garbage truck to hide behind so she could evaluate her options.

Peering around the edge of the truck, Leia could see a small crowd of biters all walking to the top of the street, leaving it practically empty. It was quiet; too quiet. Despite her suspicions, she took the opportunity anyway and began to run along the sidewalk. Her bat, as always, consistently held it tight by her side.

As she neared the end of the street, she could hear the familiar groaning of the dead. Keeping close to the walls of the buildings, she carefully glanced around the corner of the street. A herd of around seventy deadheads, as she referred to them, were frantically stumbling over each other. Their skeletal limbs were fumbling to reach a tank that sat in the middle of the street. A smaller gathering enjoyed feasting on some sort of animal corpse to the left of the tank. Leia had never seen the corpses so frantic before. What was so fascinating to them about a tank?

That's when she could hear someone behind her. A voice. Her heart, which has been beating violently against her chest, stopped. She turned around to see where it was coming from. Leia couldn't make out words but it definitely wasn't the usual mumbling of the dead. What the hell was someone doing in the alleyway? Did they know about the swarm of the walking dead around the corner? Were they in danger? Or maybe they were dangerous? With a frown and letting curiosity get the better of her, Leia neared a small alleyway that led off the street. Keeping out of sight, she listened to the voice of a young man.

* * *

"Ok, jump off the right side of the tank. Keep going in that same direction," Glenn couldn't believe this. How could someone be so stupid as to get themselves trapped in a tank? And now, thanks to this dumbass, he was putting his own life in danger. Wait; doesn't that kinda make _him_ a dumbass?

He heard the voice on the other end of the communicator reply. Glenn nodded to himself, "Right, ok, there is an alleyway just off the street at, maybe, 50 yards. Be there."

Glenn let out a frustrated breath. Great, now he was definitely in deep shit. He could hear gunshots going off and cringed. Damn it. That was going to attract way too much attention. Why was he doing this again?

He didn't have time to find the answer as a man rounded the corner of the alley. Glenn stepped forward grabbing him by the collar, pulling him in further. The man reacted by quickly turning and holding his gun up to meet Glenn's face, who held his hands up and pleaded, "Woah, not dead! Not dead!"

The man, wide eyed, noticed his mistake and turned back to the swarm of the undead following after him. One particular corpse had its fingers outstretched, attempting to grasp at his neck. Glenn watched as he raised his gun to shoot- when suddenly the geek was on the ground, head beaten in and oozing black fluid.

Glenn looked back up from the corpse to see a girl facing the geeks, heavily swinging her baseball bat at them. She was easily taking out any of those who got too close. Where did she come from? He continued to watch in amazement as she used one hand to grab a geek by the lapels of its lacerated coat and slammed it against the wall, its face eventually meeting the end of her bat. Another three were taken out with one single swing. Glenn looked over to the man to see his own awe reflected in his expression.

She turned to them at that point, still swinging her bat at some geeks, with a small, incredulous frown on her face, "What the hell are you staring at?!"

Glenn shifted awkwardly, lost for words, as she continued to yell at them, "Move! Up the ladder, quick!"

As she turned back to the geeks with determination, he looked up at the ladder she had indicated to. Hitting the arm of the other man to get his attention, he began to climb. Once he was at the halfway platform, he looked down to see the officer and the girl still fighting.

Back down in the alleyway, Rick decided to help the girl fight them off. They just kept coming. He tried to persuade her to climb but she kept cutting him off, "Go on, go, you first!"

He didn't think of arguing any longer as he gripped onto the ladder and began to climb. She followed quickly after him; taking one last swing of her bat and watching as some more corpses fell to the ground in a pool of thick, black blood. The two eventually joined Glenn on the platform and took a moment to recover their breathing. Leia looked down at the remaining swarm of living dead below as they clawed up at them.

Glenn turned to the officer who was currently trying to comprehend what had just happened, "Nice moves there, Clint Eastwood."

Leia found herself smiling slightly at the young stranger's remark. Glenn continued, "So, what, you the Sherriff that's come in to clear up the town?"

Leia noticed the older man's cop uniform for the first time. The officer shook his head, "That wasn't my intention."

"Yeah, whatever, you're still a dumbass," the younger man muttered back.

The officer held out his hand, "Rick. Thanks."

He took it, "Glenn. You're Welcome."

"Leia. Also here."

The men turned to look at the girl. Rick nodded at her, "Thank you, also."

"Yeah, thanks," Glenn agreed.

She smiled and shrugged, "Don't mention it."

"Don't mention it? You just full on Milla Jovovich'd those geeks!" Glenn exclaimed.

Leia felt a smile stretch its way onto her face and some pride swell in her, "I guess that was pretty badass."

Rick looked up at where the ladder continued to the roof. The other two followed his eye line.

"On the bright side," Glenn said, "It'll be the fall that kills us."

"Glass half full kind of guy, huh?" Leia quirked. The corners of Glenn's mouth rose a little before he began to climb first.

"No, you go next. Stop being such a gentleman," she said as Rick turned to her, motioning to the ladder, "Besides, eyes front soldier!"

The officer paused at what she was implying and looked at her as she smirked, "My eyes are always front."

Once he had climbed up a little way he heard her say, "Mine aren't."

He looked down at her and saw the playful glint in her eyes as she winked up at him. Was she flirting with him after a life-threatening situation? He guffawed a little before following Glenn to the roof. As Leia reached the top, Rick held a hand out for her and pulled her over the roof's edge. She smiled at him to say thanks as Glenn turned to her, "So, your name is Leia, like the princess?"

"Yeah, except I have better hair," she teased. The three shared a smile as they began to walk over the rooftops.

"Was it you who barricaded the alleyway?" Rick asked the other man.

"Nope, but someone did. What the hell were you doing inside that tank anyway?"

Leia paused, "Wait, what did you just say? You were _inside_ that tank?"

She gave Rick an incredulous look as he turned to her, "Yeah, only place I could find to hide from those things."

"What were you doing out on the streets?" She asked, still dumbfounded.

"I was looking for my family," Rick said, turning back to look at the floor as he walked.

Leia hesitated, unsure what to say and simply nodded in response. They walked for a little longer in silence as Glenn looked for an exit.

"So, Leia," Rick began, "What are you doing in the city?"

"Oh, supply run. Well, that's what I was supposed to be doing, anyway," she gave him a fake look of annoyance as if she were blaming him.

Rick held his hands up a little, "sorry about that."

"Don't worry about it, it was inevitable I was going to get in trouble somehow," she admitted.

Rick smiled at the girl. He was surprised that she was in the city alone. But she wasn't vulnerable. It had been made clear to him she was capable of looking after herself back there in the alleyway. He glanced at the bat that she was holding in her hand, swinging it slightly as she walked. He turned back to Glenn, "Why did you help me back there?"

"I guess I thought that if I did, someone might do the same for me. Suppose that makes me an even bigger dumbass than you,' Glenn said as he ran over to a shaft, yanked it open and began to climb down. Rick looked back at Leia, who shrugged and followed after him.

After descending the ladder and many other staircases, they reached the back of a department store. Unfortunately, two geeks, as Glenn called them, stood in the way of the door. Leia raised her bat, ready to fight, when two people dressed in some sort of home-made armour came bursting through the fire exit and began attacking the two living corpses. Glenn ushered them both past and through the door. Rick and Leia both released a heavy breath of relief – only to have it caught again when a blonde woman grabbed Rick by the collar, forcing him against some boxes. She took out a gun and pointed it into his face. Leia stepped forward to do something but hesitated as the woman began to speak, "Son of a bitch, I am going to kill you!"

Rick looked at the woman, unsure as to why this stranger was so furious with him. A man who was stood behind the blonde spoke next, "Come on, Andrea. Just back off."

"You're kidding me, right?" She never looked away from Rick, fury and fear in her eyes, "We are dead because of this stupid asshole."

Leia frowned, as did Rick. What did she mean? What did Rick do?

"Listen, Andrea, just ease up," a woman to Leia's right stepped forward.

"Ease up?" Andrea turned to the woman with shock on her face, "We're dead. All of us."

She stepped away and lowered her gun, almost crying hysterically. Leia watched as she raked her shaking fingers through her grimy blonde hair and looked sharply at Rick, "and all because of you."

Rick remained stood near the boxes. What had he done?

"I don't understand," Leia spoke up.

The others turned to her. Andrea turned to her but pointed a blaming finger to the officer, "Him. Running around like some madman. Every geek from miles around heard him!"

Rick continued to frown, despite the explanation. A man grabbed him by the arm and dragged him to the front of the store. Leia followed closely behind, not trusting what the man would do next. As they reached the front of the store it became clear what the problem was. The doors of the store were overwhelmed with corpses clawing at the glass. The glass was cracking. There was no way out. They were trapped.

"Get the picture now?" Andrea spat at the pair.

Leia rolled her eyes as the blonde pushed past her. She continued to watch the door, afraid that at any moment they could be overpowered. She looked to Rick who stood beside her and they shared a worried glance.

"Hey, T-Dog, can you try and contact the others?" Someone asked the man behind her as he pulled out a communicator.

"Others?" Leia asked.

"At the refugee centre?" Rick asked next.

"Sure, the refugee centre," the other woman sarcastically replied, "bet they have some nice warm cookies baking in the oven for us."

Leia turned to look at Rick again and noted the bewildered confusion on his face. She began to get the feeling that he hadn't experienced this new world for long.

"No signal," explained T-Dog, "Maybe we could try the roof."

At that moment a gunshot could be heard from above them. The group paused, some groaned.

"Oh no," Andrea looked to the others with her eyes wide, "was that Dixon?"

"Who?" Leia asked, frowning.

They ignored her and instead ushered her and Rick to the stairs. Once they reached the roof, they stepped outside to see a man standing at the edge, shooting at the biters in the streets. What the hell was he doing?

"Hey, Dixon, are you crazy?" one man shouted.

The man, Dixon, laughed and turned to them as he reloaded the gun, pointing it towards them, "Hey, you better be more polite to a man holding a gun. It's only common sense."

He jumped off the ledge and strutted over to the group as T-Dog stepped forward, "You're wasting bullets that we ain't even got, man! Just hold it!"

"Woah now. Bad enough I got this taco bender on my ass all day," Dixon motioned to the other man, "now I'm taking orders from you? Ha! That'll be the day."

"That'll be the day? You got something you wanna tell me?" T-Dog squared up to him.

"Hey, T-Dog, just leave it. It ain't worth it. Now, Merle, just relax, ok? We got enough trouble," said the dark haired man, desperate to stop the pair who looked disturbingly prepared to tear at eachother.

Rick turned to Glenn beside him, silently asking if he should intervene. He'd had enough of this asshat already. Glenn caught his meaning and quickly shook his head. Leia couldn't believe that in the space of one sentence, this Merle guy had made two racist slurs and was now gearing up for a fight. She was quickly getting a pretty clear sense of his character.

Merle ignored the man and stepped closer to T-Dog, "You wanna know the day? I'll tell ya the day. It's the day that I take orders from a nigger."

Before the rest of the group could even process what the man had just said, T-Dog had leapt forward and a fight broke out. Leia stood and watched as the two men tore at each other, shouting numerous curses and profanities. She felt useless, much like the others, and so stood to the side and let it be dealt with. Rick moved almost immediately between the two men. He was used to hooligans and street fights. After all, it was his job - before all this, anyway.

Between delivering punches to T-Dog's cheeks, Merle turned to Rick, his fist connecting harshly with his jaw. The officer fell straight to the floor as the fight continued. Leia let out a small cry and ran over to him. She gently grabbed his upper arms and helped steady him from the floor. She ignored what was going on behind her, worried more about the violent bruise beginning to form on Rick's jaw, "My god, are you alright?"

He looked at her and nodded. He removed his hand from his mouth and saw a little blood, "I'm fine."

He diverted Leia's attention as he looked behind her to the rest of the group. Merle was now straddling T-Dog with his gun out. He'd obviously delivered numerous heavy punches to the other man's face as it was now bruised and bloodied. What the hell was this guy's problem? The others stood around them and watched in anticipation at what the madman would do next. He was out of control.

Merle hesitated with the gun before spitting on T-Dog's shirt and stood facing the group, "Alright, we're gonna talk about who's in charge."

The others began to pull T-Dog away and check his injuries. Merle continued talking, "I vote me, anyone else? Show of hands. All those in favour?"

Merle raised his free hand and hesitantly the rest of the group did too. Merle grinned, "That means I'm in charge, right? Anybody else?"

He turned to Leia, whose hand was still gripping onto the end of her bat. He raised his eyebrows, expectantly, "you gonna raise your hand, sweets?"

Leia rolled her eyes and just raised her middle finger into the air in his direction. Merle chuckled before turning back to the others, "Anyone else?"

Leia hadn't even noticed Rick had moved from beside her until she saw him stood behind Merle, "Yeah, me."

As Merle turned around to look at him, Rick pulled out his gun and slammed the end of it into his face. The redneck fell to the floor instantly, where Rick took out his handcuffs. Once Rick had pulled the man to some pipes and securely cuffed him, he grabbed the foul man by the collar and sat him up. Merle shouted, "Who the hell are you, man?"

"Officer Friendly," Rick quipped.

The corners of Leia's mouth began to turn up a little at that comment. This recent acquaintance was definitely an interesting character. She watched as Rick continued to talk to the thug.

"Listen here, Merle. Things are different now. There are no niggers and there certainly ain't no white trash, inbred, dumbass fools neither. Only dark meat and white meat. There is us and the dead. We survive this by pulling together, not apart."

"Screw you, man," Merle spat.

Rick shook his head, disappointedly, "I can see that you love making the habit of missing the point."

"Oh yeah? Well screw you twice."

Rick turned away from him in frustration before taking out his gun and put it to Merle's head.

"People should be nice to a man with a gun," he mocked, repeating Merle's previous words, "Only common sense."

The others in the group were silent. No one had ever stood up to Merle like that, not even his brother. And yet here was this stranger, taking complete control. Leia was impressed too as she watched the officer. And this was the dumbass that hides in tanks to get away from zombies, huh?

"You ain't no cop," Merle remarked.

"No. I'm just a man looking for his wife and son. And no one is going to come between that." There was an apprehensive, stunned silence as they waited to see what the officer would do next.

"Leia," Rick called. She stepped forward, "Will you help me search his pockets, please?"

Leia nodded, passing her bat to Glenn, before kneeling on the other side of Merle, reaching her hand into his jacket pocket.

"Why don't you try slipping your hand down my trouser pocket there, sweets?"

She looked up at him, expressionless as he smirked. Then she felt something. Of course. What else would she expect? She pulled out the small bag of powder and looked up at Rick. He took it from her as she turned to Merle, narrowing her eyes, "You've got some on your nose there."

She flicked his nose before standing up to see Rick throwing it over the edge of the building.

"Hey! What the fuck do you think you're doing?! That's my stuff!" Merle yelled.

Rick ignored him and moved to look out towards the city. The others turned back to T-Dog and his wounds. He looked to Leia as she approached to stand next to him. She was still surprised at what he had done back there. It was impressive. She raised her eyebrows, "Wow. That was- That was something."

"Yeah? Well, it is kind of my job," he held back a smile.

"You aren't the regular Atlanta PD, huh?"

He didn't know how to respond to that and so shook his head, "Could you help the others with T-Dog?"

"Yes, Sir," Leia dramatically straightened up and saluted, before running over to the others, only just catching the smile that appeared on the officer's face.

She reached the others and knelt down beside T-Dog, noticing that they had managed to clear up most of his injuries, "Hey."

Glenn smiled at her and cleared his throat, "Everyone, this is Leia."

They mumbled their replies as Andrea turned to her, "Look, about earlier, I am sorry. I was just a bit upset. I didn't mean to shout at the two of you."

"It's fine," Leia said, honestly, "Don't worry about it. I completely understand."

Andrea nodded, "It's nice to see some new faces anyway."

"He's… interesting," the other woman said, looking at Rick.

Leia turned to face him too as he talked with the dark haired man, "Yeah, he certainly is."

"Did you know him before all this?"

"No, I've literally only just met him. I'm as impressed and confused as you are," she explained.

"Jacqui, by the way," the woman introduced herself.

"Nice to meet you; all of you," Leia sincerely explained. Andrea was right; it was nice to see some new faces. It had been at least a month since Leia had seen anyone besides her Uncle and it was slightly, slowly driving her a little insane - particularly because he wasn't the best company anymore. It was reassuring to see people working together to survive (except for Merle) and so, well, _alive_.

"That man over there is Morales," Jacqui explained and began listing them off one by one, "T-Dog, Glenn, Andrea and, of course, Merle."

Leia looked over to the man chained to the pipes, shouting curses at the sky. She sighed, "Charmed."

T-Dog pulled out the communicator as Rick rejoined them, "How is that signal?"

"Like Dixon's brain; weak," he joked, to which Merle replied with a certain hand gesture.

"Just keep trying," Rick ordered.

"Why?" Andrea questioned, "There is nothing they can do."

"Got some people outside the city, that's all," Leia stood and moved by Rick as Morales explained to him, "There is no refugee centre; it's just another pipe dream."

"Which means that we are on our own," Leia said, noting the troubled glance Rick sent her way. His whole demeanour changed, as if all his hope had just been diminished. It was obvious that he had really believed there was a refugee somewhere and that life in this new world was going to be that easy. He really didn't know what their situation was, did he?

"Good luck with that," Merle quipped before turning to Andrea, "Hey, sugartits, how about you get me out of these cuffs and we can go off someplace? Go and bump some uglies. We're gonna die anyways."

"I'd rather," was her reply. Leia laughed, earning a cold glare from Merle, before settling herself down by the wall as the group dispersed.

Rick came and sat beside her, his elbows resting on his knees. He rubbed his hand down his face and shook his head slightly, as if trying to comprehend everything that was going on. After a while he turned to her, curious, "So what did you do, before all this?"

Leia turned to him, surprised by this question. It had been so long since she had a regular, small-talk conversation with someone. She hadn't spoken to anyone other than her uncle in a very long time, and even then it was minimal conversation, "Oh, I worked at a bar. Not that respectable, I know, but it was a job nonetheless."

"What else would you have done? If you weren't a bartender, I mean."

Leia thought about it, "Not really sure. I mean, I studied Literature at University so probably something to do with all that. Never really thought of anything else. What about you? Have you always wanted to be a cop?"

Rick was quiet for a moment, watching as she mindlessly fiddled with the string on the handle of her bat, "never really thought about it, either."

They chuckled. It was nice to talk to someone about life before all this. It was as if thinking back was a reminder that regular life did actually, genuinely happen. Leia believed those memories were important to sustaining a hope that things could go back to the way they were.

Leia thought back to why he was in the city, "So, what are your family like? They must be pretty special if you go riding around in a tank searching for them."

"Aren't all families special?"

"Not always," she spoke quietly, turning her attention to her bat again.

"Story for another time, right?" he asked sympathetically. He wouldn't pressure anyone into sharing anything too personal. Besides, he had only just met her. She nodded in response.

They were quiet for another moment before Rick remembered what she had asked him, "I'm looking for my son, his name is Carl. My wife, Lori, too."

Leia looked up at him as he continued to speak, "I didn't even know what was happening until a few days ago when I met a man and his son. They tried to explain it all to me of course. I saw things. I got the picture soon enough. They said my best bet would be trying out the city and we went our separate ways."

"Yeah, it sounds so clichéd but I thought it was all just some bad dream or something. It was as if I was having one of those out-of-body experiences, like I was in a coma." Leia smirked despite having difficulty finding words to describe that realisation of how things actually were now,"So how come you didn't know what was happening until recently?"

"Well, I _was_ in a coma."

Leia laughed, thinking he was just mocking her previous comment. After noting the sincerity of his expression, her smile dropped, "You're serious?"

"Yeah," Rick nodded with a small grin on his face. He could see her sending him a curious, questioning look, as if begging him to elaborate. So he decided to continue his explanation, "I got shot when I was on duty. Woke up. World had gone to shit. That was about three days ago, so I'm fairly new to all this."

"Wow," Leia took a moment to take it all in, "Huh, that certainly explains a lot though."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, now I understand why you were dumb enough to hide in a tank to get away from deadheads, and then run around the city, shooting your gun like a madman," she watched as Rick fought back a smile, shaking his head as she nudged his shoulder with her own, "Welcome to the apocalypse, rookie."

Another silence fell between them.

"You'll find them. Your family. I know you will," Leia commented, a sad smile on her face.

He reached out and placed a hand on her knee, "Thank you."

"Streets ain't safe," Morales cut in, "Now that's an understatement."

They needed to get away from the city. They needed a plan. Leia thought about what he had said for a moment, "What about under the streets? Have you tried the sewers?"

There was quiet for a moment as they processed what she had said.

"Oh, man," Morales said as he turned to Glenn, "hey, check the alley. You see any manhole covers?"

Glenn ran to the edge of the roof and looked down. As he did this, Rick looked over at her and exclaimed, "You are a genius."

She couldn't stop the pride that swelled in her or the blush that crept to her cheeks as he said that. However, Glenn turned back to them and shook his head – demolishing that feeling.

"So much for genius," she pouted.

"What about the main streets?"

"Where the geeks are? They'd be too hard to get to."

"Maybe not," Jacqui began, "Old, large building like this one, built in the 20's, often used to have drainage systems in case of flooding."

"How do you know that?"

"It's my job. Well, was," she explained, "I worked in the zoning department office."

* * *

The group had managed to find an entrance to the systems, Glenn and Morales were currently checking it out. Rick, Leia and Andrea were in the stores, waiting for them to come back with good news. Leia watched as the deadheads, or 'geeks', scratched frenziedly at the doors, the glass cracking more and more every minute. That's when she thought about what would happen if they did get out. Would she stay with these people? She needed to get back to her home, but would that mean completely leaving them? She had only just met Rick, and Glenn too, but she found herself caring about these people. She wanted them to be safe. Could she really just leave them after this was over?

Just then, the sound of glass smashing broke her from her thoughts. The biters had managed to collapse the first set of doors and it would only be a matter of time before they did the same to the second. Rick and Andrea ran to her side as she took out her baseball bat. Her heart was pounding. Rick raised his gun too just as Morales and Glenn came into the room, "What did you find down there?"

"Not a way out," Morales regretfully replied. Leia silently cursed to herself. How the hell would they get out of this alive?

They gathered again on the roof and tried to devise a new plan.

"We need to distract the geeks so we can get to that van over there," Rick said as he pointed down the street.

"Sound attracts them, right?" Leia wanted to confirm.

Glenn agreed, "yeah, like dogs, our smell does too."

"Our smell?" Rick frowned.

"They smell dead and we don't. It's pretty distinct," Andrea spoke up.

Rick thought for a moment and then sighed. This was crazy but sometimes, crazy works.

"Ok, here's what we gotta do…"

* * *

Morales and Jacqui had managed to drag one of the geeks they killed earlier inside the store. The others began to grab all the necessary equipment they would need from the shelves.

"If bad ideas were an Olympic event, this would take the gold."

Leia rolled her eyes at Glenn before shoving a pair of gloves into his hands. The group hadn't seemed too impressed with Rick's plan, but Leia though it was ingenious. Risky, yes. Disgusting, of course. But ingenious all the same.

Rick smashed the glass for the emergency axe. They all made their way to the back of the store where the rotted corpse was. No one could speak as they looked at it. This was wrong. But they had to do it. It was the only idea they had. Rick looked to the girl by his side as he picked up the axe. She tried to smile at him in reassurance but she was sure it was unconvincing. He took a deep breath. The others moved out of his way. It was now or never. He needed to do this. Lifting the axe he charged for the biter- but stopped.

He let out a frustrated breath as the others relaxed a little. Rick bent over to pull out the biter's wallet. He read it aloud, "Wayne Dunlap, born in 1979."

He handed Leia the card. She had almost forgotten what they were. Those creatures. They were human. People. You would think of all of them, she should be the one to remember that.

She looked down at the photo on the card. The man smiling up at her was now lying cold at her feet. His face distorted. His head battered in. His limbs tangled.

"He used to be like us," she explained.

The group took a moment to reflect on what she said.

Rick took the card from her, "Yeah, just like us. Worrying about bills, love, the Superbowl. He was a person. When I find my family, I'm going to tell them about Wayne."

He looked to the floor as he placed the wallet to the side. Slowly reaching down for the axe, he thought about what he had to do. But he couldn't afford to think about it. This had to be done. So, he started hacking.

Leia and the others watched as black blood oozed from the corpse. Skin and guts were spilling onto the floor. This was wrong. But it was also their chance at survival. That's what this new world was about; survival.

Once Rick had finished, they began to lather the gore over him, Leia and Glenn. Leia had volunteered – Glenn was not so enthusiastic.

Even though she had only just met these people, she felt as though it was necessary to do all she could to keep them alive. Perhaps, it was in the hope that if she ever found herself struggling, someone would repay the favour and help her to overcome it. Or perhaps it was a concept on more of a wider scale than that. Over the past few weeks, Leia felt as though she had developed the mindset that all human life was precious (well, of those that were actually alive) and that it was their duty as a race to work together to preserve what was left.

Leia closed her eyes and took deep breaths as she tried to think of anything other than what was happening. She had never been one to cringe at gore – but having it smeared all over you was a whole new experience. She heard Glenn retching beside her. She could also hear Rick murmuring something about 'puppies and kittens' but that only produced even gorier and depressing images in her mind. Finally, after a while, it was done.

Rick, Leia and Glenn opened the back door of the store and took a reluctant step out. Down the alleyway were a few stray geeks. The three took hesitant and slow steps, ensuring that they didn't attract any unwanted attention. Passing the first few geeks, Leia realised that this plan might actually work. The geeks paid no attention to them as they walked by. However, she reminded herself to stay calm – well, as calm as you can be covered in guts and walking through a crowd of the living dead.

As they continued down the main street, Leia almost forgot about the intestines hung over her shoulder as she became too preoccupied in the dead surrounding her. It was working! The plan was actually working! As they carefully made their way down the street, Rick looked to the greying skies. Leia followed his eyes and cursed. She felt a drop on her cheek. _Damn it_. More drops. _Crap_. Then came the heavy rainfall. _Shit_.

The three continued walking despite the increasing danger. The guts were washing away. She caught Glenn's eye and saw the evident fear on his face. They needed to keep going. They needed to get away.

Leia's grip on the handle of her bat tightened once more, if that were even possible. Her heart wa sin a frenzy. The hungry corpses around them began turning in their direction, taking slow steps towards them. They were starting to smell them. She turned to Rick for reassurance, only to see a geek right behind him, ready to grab at him. Her eyes widened as she lifted her bat and swung for it. The geek fell immediately to the floor as Rick shouted, "Run!"

So they did.

As they ran to the gates, they fought of any walker that came too close. Luckily, they were almost at the gate and so did not have too far to go. Once they reached the gate and climbed over, they hastily removed their bloody jackets.

They ran to the vehicles ahead of them just as Leia acknowledged the nagging thought at the back of her mind, "Rick!"

She called for him but he didn't turn around, deafened by determination, "Rick!"

Once they reached the van, he finally turned as she gripped onto his upper arm, "Rick, listen, I can't go with you."

Rick's eyes darted to hers, searching for some kind of explanation, shaking his head slightly, "What do you mean? Come on, we need to g-"

"No, Rick! I need to go home. _My_ home."

He couldn't do anything but look at her. What was she saying? They needed to leave. They needed her. He needed her help.

"Leia? What's happening?" Glenn anxiously called from the truck.

"I'm sorry but I can't go with you. Save the others, get them the hell out of here," she pleaded.

Rick turned to her fully, "But what if they get y-"

"-I'll be fine. Just go, quick. You need to leave."

Rick couldn't believe what he was hearing. She was just going to leave on her own? She could get hurt? What if something happened to her? How would she find them?

"Rick! Go!"

The geeks had gotten closer, they needed to go _now_. He reached out for her wrist as she started to turn away. She faced him with a desperate, confused expression. He spoke, "Just, be careful. If you need anything, Morales said their camp is just outside the city. Find us."

She nodded, about to move again but he kept his grip on her wrist before adding, "And thank you."

"You're welcome," She tried to smile despite the overwhelming panic, "Now go, quick!"

Rick let her go with a nod and got into the van as she ran down the road. But before he drove away, she called back to him, "Nice meeting you, Officer Friendly!"

Rick would have smiled if he was not so worried about her. He knew she could take care of herself and trusted her to do so. But she was now on her own. He had been on his own too, and nearly got himself killed! But she had earned his trust throughout the day. Rick watched as she ran down the highway; bat in hand, as Glenn pulled the truck away. He was sure they would meet again – someday.

* * *

Leia hadn't stopped running from the city until she had finally reached home. She opened the door and walked in, slamming it behind her. Dragging herself over to a seat, she slumped down and caught her breath.

Just then, her uncle walked in, "Where the hell have you been?"

She rolled her eyes and sat up, still trying to catch her breath, "I told you. Supply run."

"Right," he looked at her sceptically, "So, where are the supplies then?"

"…Shit."

* * *

 **This chapter's purpose is to introduce you to Leia's character - what do you think of her so far? I promise that the story will become more creative and interesting as we get into the seasons! Also, my main theme of this story is friendship, however I am seriously considering adding a romance to it between my OC and someone in the group - as the story goes, make sure to let me know who you think would suit her best.**


	2. Chapter 2

**So here is Chapter 2! Thanks so much for giving my fic a chance - I know these first two chapters may seem a little too similar to the script and plot of the show but I promise that this has only been done to introduce my character, Leia, to the group. The proper action and more original content will begin with my next upload - enjoy!**

* * *

Seeing as she got distracted last time, Leia made her way back into the city to get supplies. It wasn't that her and her uncle desperately needed supplies, Leia found that she strangely enjoyed going on her little adventures. It was better than be locked away back at home. _Home._ Leia could almost laugh at herself for calling it that. It wasn't really a _home_ at all - just somewhere to lay low and avoid the dangers of the new world.

She decided that it was best to check territory she was vaguely familiar with and so headed to the department store where she had met the others yesterday. As she feared, it looked to be overrun with deadheads after they had broken through the glass doors the day before. So she made the decision to check the offices on the floor above. Constantly checking for any threats, from both the dead and alive, Leia climbed the ladder on the outside of the building and pushed her way through a broken, back window. Once successfully inside, she immediately began checking the cupboards for some kind of food, or anything else that may be useful.

Without any luck so far, she opened one of the cupboards and was overwhelmed with the wave of a rotting smell that poured from a packet of moulding cheese and crackers. Leia sighed, defeated, "It'll have to do, I guess."

As she hesitantly lifted the packet of crackers off of the shelf and into her rucksack, she felt a sudden, hard pressure being forced on her back. Dropping the packet, she began raising her hands in some sort of surrender. She then froze, feeling her heart rate begin to speed. Someone was behind her.

"Please, let that be a gun," Leia lifted her eyes to the ceiling, struggling to speak as the air caught in her throat.

"Nah," an unfamiliar, male voice drawled sarcastically from behind her, "I'm just real happy to see ya."

Shitshitshit. If she wasn't panicking before, she certainly was now. A, possibly very dangerous, stranger was holding some sort of weapon to her back. At this point, Leia was practically deafened by the sound of her heart pulsing in her ears. However, she managed to hear another, softer, voice speak up, " _Leia_?"

Her heart stopped completely. She could feel the first stranger lowering their weapon as the pressure on her back slowly disappeared. Still struggling to breathe, Leia slightly turned her head to face the others in the room.

There were four men standing in the office; one of them was wearing a familiar cop uniform - " _Rick_?"

Letting out a sigh of relief and immediately could feel the tension in her shoulders ease as she saw the familiar face smiling back at her. Leia was sure her own features reflected his evidently startled expression. Caught up in her surprise, she almost completely forgot about the others in the room. Looking to the men beside Rick she noticed T-Dog was there, as well as Glenn who beamed at her from the doorway. The three men looked at her with a sense of familiarity and Leia felt alleviated that they were still alive. Taking a glance to the stranger that stood behind her, she immediately noticed the crossbow that had obviously been held to her back moments before. She noted the toned but dirtied arms that held it, and the shabby, torn vest, before settling her eyes on the man's face. He held a stern, almost bitter expression, and she noticed how his eyes darted suspiciously between her and the others. Just as she had no idea who he was, he clearly had no clue who she was.

The unknown man's grip on the crossbow remained tight as Rick spoke up, "What are you doing here?"

"I was just getting some supplies. I got distracted last time", she feigned a accusing look at the men, holding back a smile.

Rick tried his best to contain his grin too as he shook his head, "Yeah, sorry about that."

"So what are you doing back here?" Leia asked, curious. Immediately she could feel a tension return and flood the room. She watched as the three men in front of her shuffled slightly on their feet, their eyes either taking sudden interest in the ground or the walls around them. Rick avoided her gaze and turned back to the other men, all remnants of his previous smile gone within a second. Leia began to feel uneasy. Something wasn't right.

Glenn rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly as he cleared his throat, still refusing to look in her direction, "Well, we uh-"

"We are looking for my brother," the man next to her spoke up, not even looking at her but rather glaring at the other three men. His voice was rough, almost aggressive, matching his scowl.

Leia frowned, "Your brother?"

"Merle," Rick spoke up now.

"You're Merle's brother?" Leia turned to look back at the stranger beside her. She wasn't particularly surprised by this; she should have been able to tell from the arrogant way he held himself. Leia huffed, 'What's he done now?'

"It's more what _we_ have done," Rick mumbled in response.

"What?" Leia's frown deepened.

"We, uh, left him. On the roof," Glenn guiltily muttered.

"You what?!" Rick winced at her expression. She couldn't help the dumbfounded tone of her voice and so waited for someone to explain what the hell they were talking about. She could almost feel the fury radiating off of the man beside her.

T-Dog cleared his throat a little and spoke up, "Yesterday, I dropped the key to the handcuffs in a drain when we were trying to leave. We were in such a rush that we just ended up leaving him there."

Rick looked at her, "We had no choice. We had to leave."

Leia took a moment to process this, "So he's still up there?"

She was met with nods. Rick continued after another moment of strained silence, "We are also trying to get some guns; I left my bag full of them on the street when I got swarmed."

Leia nodded before making a decision, "Well, can I help at all?"

Rick looked her in the eye and tilted his head to the side slightly, "You sure? What about your supplies?"

"I'm sure I can survive one more night on stale crackers," she quipped with a shrug as she leant down to pick up the packet she had dropped on the floor. She could hear Glenn let out a small chuckle at her remark and was about to make another comment as Merle's brother scolded them.

"Can we just hurry the fuck up and find my brother now?" He said as he raised his crossbow a little, glaring menacingly at Rick.

The officer responded with a nod of his head and ushered them out of the room. As Leia went to step out of the doorway, she felt the crossbow-man push past her, roughly hitting against her shoulder and made her stumble forward a little. She glared as he strode past the group to take lead down the corridor.

Turning to her right, she saw Glenn offer her a timid smile, "That's Daryl."

" _Daryl?"_

Glenn hummed and let out a sigh as the two followed the group down the corridor.

* * *

The group of five made their way to the roof, constantly alert for any geeks or other threats. Merle's brother, or Daryl as she had just found out, led from the front, his crossbow raised as always. Once they reached the top of the stairwell they opened the door, expecting to be met with Merle undoubtedly throwing barbaric curses at them. Leia moved to stand next to Glenn and looked over to the pipes where they had supposedly left the redneck agitator.

The handcuffs were still attached – but Merle was gone. Well, most of him was anyway. All that was left was his right hand in a pool of blood.

"Oh god", Leia whispered, her hand moving to rest on her unsettled stomach.

Leia felt her mouth hang open in disbelief. Her stomach was flipping and twisting with unease. Glenn, who was to her right, was doing his best to keep down the bile that threatened to come up in his throat. The others all stood in silence as they watched the younger brother pace around; trying to comprehend the sight of the severed hand. He occasionally let out small cries of despair and disgust.

The group didn't even have time to let the situation sink in before Daryl turned and threw his crossbow up to T-Dog's face with a growl. His fingers were tense and fully prepared to pull the trigger. Before he had the chance, Rick pulled out his Python and held it against Daryl's cheek.

"I won't hesitate," Rick threatened through gritted teeth, "I don't care if every walker in the city hears it."

There was a moment of suspense as the men stood with their weapons raised and pointed at each other, waiting for someone to make a move. Leia watched as Daryl turned to look Rick in the eye, and it seemed he noticed the sheriff was being completely honest with his threat. After another moment of hesitation, Daryl slowly lowered his gun, the rigidity in his shoulders only faltering slightly as he did so. The man's accusing scowl never broke away from T-Dog, who was clearly horrified and ashamed at what had happened. He obviously blamed himself for dropping that key.

Leia released a breath she didn't know she had been holding when she saw Rick lower his gun and take a step back.

"You got a do-rag or something?" Daryl asked T-Dog. Leia had expected him to make a rude remark or to start yelling again. T-Dog reached into his pocket and pulled out a handkerchief, reluctantly placing it into Daryl's outstretched hand. The others then watched as he knelt beside the hand and stared at it for a moment, taking a breath. Leia looked to the floor as Daryl went to wrap it in the handkerchief. In this new world, gore was to be expected. But the bloodied bodies and beaten in heads of things that were technically already dead was entirely different to seeing the severed hand of a living human being. The geeks were dead. Merle was alive - or so they hoped.

She heard Daryl call Glenn over and watched as he made the younger man turn around. Glenn's face distorted into a look of disgust as his backpack was unzipped and Merle's hand was placed inside it.

"He must have used a tourniquet – maybe his belt. Be much more blood if he didn't," Daryl noted.

Leia looked down to the pool of blood on the ground where his hand had been. This was awful. She understood why Daryl would be angry, hell, he had every right to be mad. If it was her brother who had been left there overnight and then had to cut off his own hand to escape, then fuming wouldn't even begin to cover what she would be feeling. But she could also see it from the rets of the group's perspective. Merle was reckless and they needed to escape. It was a choice between saving the lives of many or risk endangering all their lives to try and save one. Also, it had to be made in the heat of the moment. There was no time for discussion. They needed to escape. They needed to survive.

Looking back down at her feet, she noticed there were more red spots where she was stood, "hey, there's more blood over here. Look."

Rick and the others ran over to her as she pointed out the trail of blood. Following with her eyes, it seemed to lead to another stairway. Daryl pushed past them again, his crossbow in the assumed position. Rick clapped her on the shoulder with a nod before they followed after the younger brother.

* * *

Rick watched Leia out of the corner of his eye as they quietly followed Daryl down another corridor in the office block. She was peering around the doorways as they walked, checking the rooms for any sign of the older Dixon. Her hand was resting on the edge of her bat as usual. He had spent the past day worrying about whether she had made it home safely and without any trouble. He had struggled to sleep last night as the thought of her running off on her own, with only a baseball bat for protection, had been eating away at him. The relief he felt when they found her, alive and unharmed, was overwhelming.

Rick regretted not forcing her to stay so that he could at least escort her back to her home, wherever that was. He reminded himself to ask her later about where her camp was situated as he did not have the chance yesterday, what with trying to escape the city alive and all. Leia turned to him then and he returned her polite smile.

They were disrupted by the sound of familiar groaning and heard Daryl released an arrow into the geek's head. Reaching over the corpse, he pulled it back out, smirking, "Had enough in him to take out these two sumbitches."

The group looked around him to see two corpses on the ground in pools of thick, black muck.

Daryl continued, "And one handed too. Toughest asshole I ever met, my brother. Feed him a hammer, he'd crap out nails."

"Any man can pass out from blood loss, no matter how tough he is," Leia sighed, earning a cold glare from the other man. Daryl growled a bitter 'whatever' before stalking ahead into a small kitchen.

As the five of them entered the kitchen, Leia immediately noted the unpleasant burning smell.

"Merle!" Daryl yelled out.

"We're not alone here. Remember?" Rick hissed.

It looked as though Daryl was going to reply with some snarky remark, but Glenn interrupted by pointing back to a stove that was still lit, "What's all that burned stuff?"

Leia moved a little closer to inspect the stove, and realised that the belt on top of it must have belonged to Merle. Leia had to swallow to clear her throat as she came to the realisation, "Skin. He cauterised the stump."

A silence fell upon the group. Leia turned to Glenn and they shared a sickened glance. She then turned to look in the direction of Daryl and was bewildered by how passive his expression was. He seemed to not be so bothered by this revelation or the situation in general. Leia almost felt like taking him by the shoulders and shaking him whilst yelling, ' _Your brother has just severed his own hand and is still missing. Why are you not at all bothered by this?'_ But she doubted he would react graciously to that.

Daryl just sniffed, "Told you he was tough. Nobody can kill Merle but Merle."

"Don't take that in faith," Rick commented, still looking at the lumps of flesh that simmered on the stove, "He's lost a lot of blood."

"Yeah? Didn't stop him from busting out of this death trap," Daryl said as he moved to the other side of the kitchen. He brought their attention over to a broken window. Leia could see it had been broken from the inside as the shards of glass were on the other side.

Glenn voiced what Leia was thinking, "He left the building? Why would he do that?"

"Why wouldn't he?" Daryl squinted at the younger man, "He's out there alone as far as he knows, doing what he's go to do. Surviving."

T-Dog shook his head, "You call that surviving? Just wandering out in the streets, maybe passing out? What are his odds out there?"

T-Dog instantly knew he had made a wrong move by speaking up. Daryl practically flew across the small room before anyone could stop him; a fierce, threatening scowl on his face.

"No worse than being handcuffed and left to rot by you sorry pricks!" Daryl spat as he made to raise his clenched fist.

Rick made to move towards him, ready to put himself between the two men, but saw that Leia had gotten there first. She stood in front of T-Dog, holding her two hands up against Daryl's chest, forcing him to stay put. It took Daryl a moment to process the two small hands pushing him back. He snapped his gaze down to her with a bewildered frown, before he started to struggle against her hold. No matter how much he tried to push past her, he was surprised at her determination, before recoiling away from her, "Get your hands off me!"

"Just back off," Leia scolded. She made sure to keep her voice steady and quiet, so that they wouldn't attract any unwanted attention. Daryl was ready to shout back at her. Who the hell was this girl, anyways? She didn't know him, he didn't know her! Who the hell did she think she was trying to tell him what to do?

He attempted to get around her again and towards T-Dog, pushing her to the side with some force, but the sheriff now stepped in and put his hands out to stop him, "He's family, I get that. I went through hell to find mine. I know exactly how you feel."

Leia watched as Daryl began to slowly back down and pay attention to what Rick was saying as the officer continued, "We could help you check a few blocks around but only if we keep a level head."

"I could do that," Daryl nodded, taking a few steps back.

Leia breathed a sigh of satisfaction at feeling the hostility in the room diminish. Looking in Daryl's direction, she could see him doing his best to avoid her gaze, still slightly furious, and perhaps even a little embarrassed, that she had stood up against him like that. She cleared her throat and stepped towards the men a little, "Maybe we should find those guns first."

She saw a couple of them agree, T-Dog nodding profusely, "Yeah, I ain't strolling the streets with just my good intentions, okay?"

* * *

Glenn had led them into another room and sat at a desk, beginning to make a plan to recover Rick's guns. The others, believing he would be the best for the task, scattered themselves around the office. Daryl retreated to a corner and began cleaning his arrows with a cloth. T-Dog moved to the window, watching as the geeks mindlessly fumbled around in the streets below. Leia leant her bat against a desk and sat beside it on the floor, her head resting against the wall behind her. Closing her eyes, she felt a presence sit down next her. Not to her surprise, it was Rick.

"Hey," she smiled.

"Hey," the officer returned it, "I, uh, I found my family."

Leia sat forward and her smile grew, "Rick, that's fantastic! How are they?"

Rick felt his own smile grow as he saw the way her eyes had lit up at the news, "They're good, yeah. Just so happens they've been at the camp outside the city this whole time."

"With the others? Wow, what a coincidence," Leia had to admit, that was the wildest coincidence she had ever heard of. She turned to him with a smirk, "See, I told you so. I said you'd find them and I was right."

Rick agreed, unable to hide his grin as he heard the smug tone of her voice.

"I'm really happy for you, Rick, honestly," she said, sincerely, as the two shared another smile.

From the opposite corner of the office, Daryl found himself watching the pair's interaction. He just couldn't make his mind up about her. Who the hell was this girl? He quickly gathered she was the one he had heard Glenn talking, rather excitedly, about yesterday back at camp. The girl supposedly took on about ten geeks with just her baseball bat and pretty much saved their sorry asses. She had clearly formed some sort of bond with the group yesterday, particularly Rick and that was clear by the way they were now sat grinning stupidly at each other.

What was so special about this girl? He had just assumed Glenn liked her so much because he had a silly little crush or something. But after seeing her stand up to him earlier today, he wasn't sure that was the case. She stood up against _him._ He couldn't decide if she was brave or simply just dumb. _No one_ stood up against him or his brother. Especially not women. And yet _she did_. So should he be in awe or irritated? A part of him wanted to admit he had been slightly impressed, but it was so much easier to bury it deep down beneath his ego. So, he decided she infuriated him.

His thoughts were interrupted when Glenn quickly stood from his chair and knelt on the ground. Daryl watched as he took out a pen and began drawing some sort of diagram on the tiled floor. The rest of the group noticed this too and began to slowly gather around him, waiting for an explanation.

"What's this?" Daryl heard the girl ask from next to him.

"It's a diagram," the Asian boy replied.

Leia fought back a smirk, "I can see that, thank you. But what is the diagram of?"

"Oh, uh, it's Atlanta. The streets. Here, take a look," Glenn pointed to his drawing. The others listened intently as he began to explain his plan.

When he finished sharing his idea, Rick shook his head, "You're not doing this alone."

"Even I think it's a bad idea and I don't even like you much," Daryl said as he pulled himself up to sit on the desk beside Leia, who rolled her eyes at his unnecessary remark. Yeah, he was definitely related to Merle.

She could see where Glenn was coming from with his plan and felt the need to support him, "Just hear him out."

She smiled down at Glenn as he turned back to the diagram on the floor. He took the others' silence as his chance to carry on with his explanation, "If we go out there in a group, we're slow, drawing attention. If I'm alone, I can move fast."

Leia could see Rick shifting uneasily on his feet on her other side. He was obviously not comfortable with the idea of Glenn going out onto the streets alone. She didn't blame him. It was dangerous. _Really_ dangerous. But it was the only plan they had so far that could work.

"Look. The tank is five blocks from where we are now. The bag of guns are here," Glenn began to point at where different parts of the plan would be situated, "Here's the alley where you, me and Leia first met. That's where Daryl, Leia and I will go."

"Why me?" Daryl and Leia said simultaneously. They sent each other an uncomfortable glance before hurriedly looking away.

"The crossbow is quieter than Rick's gun, your bat too," he explained. Leia sent the young man a nod of her head in agreement, whereas Daryl just looked irritated, "While you two wait here in the alley, I run up the street and grab the bag."

"You got us elsewhere?" Rick asked, referring to himself and T-Dog.

"Yeah, uh, you'll be here-"

Leia's thoughts drifted from Glenn's explanation as she thought about the plan. Could she really go ahead with this? It was going to be getting dark soon. There was no way she would travel home, alone, in the dark. She needed to get back.

But she couldn't just leave, could she? She had offered to help and was now going to leave before they actually figured out a plan? Maybe her uncle wouldn't even notice she wasn't back yet – that was likely. No, she needed to get back.

"Leia?" Rick's voice broke her out of her thoughts. She tried to smile up at him but clearly was failing as he frowned, "You alright?"

Her expression fell as she let out a small sigh and shifted her weight from one foot to the other, "Look, I'm really sorry but…I really need to get back. My uncle will wonder where I am."

She saw Rick stiffen as he stood up straighter. She immediately felt terrible as she felt the uncertainty of the others in the room too. Looking around at them she went on, almost hysterical, "I'm sorry. I really am. I know I ran off last time too and I don't mean to ruin any of your plans it's just-"

"Leia, its fine."

She looked up at Rick and saw him offering her a small smile. His hand came to rest on her shoulder as he spoke softly, "Don't worry, we understand."

Looking around the room, she saw Glenn looking back at her with the same reassuring smile, T-Dog too. Daryl, on the other hand, still held the same irritated expression, most likely because he just wanted to get up and go find Merle.

"Thank you," turning back to Rick she breathed in to calm herself, "I should go now and then you can start your plan as soon as possible."

Glenn stood and walked over to her. He smiled, warmly, "It was good to see you again today. Thanks again for all your help."

"I really haven't done anything for you to be grateful for," she said, feeling her cheeks begin to heat up, "but look at you, being all clever and making all the plans. I hope it works out for you. Those guns are important , but you guys are the priority, ok? Any sign of danger, forget the plan and just get the hell out of there."

She reached her hand out for Glennto shake. As she felt him squeeze her hand reassuringly, she realised that this may be the last time she ever saw these people. The guilt and uncertain feeling swelled in her again.

Dropping her hand, she sent a small smile to T-Dog who mirrored it and winked at her.

"Just be careful out there," Rick said, sincerely, as she moved to grab her backpack and the bat that had been resting against a desk.

"Always," she returned.

Rick offered to escort her out. As she reached the doorway, she turned back to the other men in the room. Her eyes glanced over from T-Dog to Glenn before landing on Daryl who stood awkwardly away from the others. He had kept out of their goodbyes as he hardly knew her and so spent the time gawkily shuffling in the corner of the room. He also just wanted this to be over with so that they could get on with finding Merle.

"I hope you find your brother. I really do," she said, softly with a sincere smile.

This caught him off guard. She sounded like she cared - genuinely cared. He didn't reply.

She turned away from them to look back to Rick who ushered her out of the room and to the stairwell. He looked at her, sensing her uneasiness, "you sure you want to go back on your own?"

She nodded. They reached the bottom of the steps and she turned to look up at him, "Thank you, Rick. I feel terrible running off again but- I hope to see you again some day. Until then, I wish you the best of luck."

"You too," he said as he gripped her arm supportively.

She did the same, "I'm glad you found your family. They are lucky to have you."

He nodded with a small smile, unsure what to say. She smiled at him one last time before turning around and running down the alleyway. She turned the corner and disappeared from sight.

He wondered if he _would_ see her again.

* * *

"You're killing us!" Rick yelled as he banged on the shutters. Shane began to try pulling him away as others yelled at him that they needed to leave, "You're killing us!"

The security camera _had_ moved. He saw it. Someone _was_ in there. And they were just going to ignore them?

Within a matter of hours after returning to camp later that evening, all hell had broken loose. Merle was still missing, Glenn had been taken and they nearly ended up in a gun fight to try and get him and the guns back. Walkers had overrun the camp; people were dead, the tents and resources were ruined. Amy, Jim, security - all gone. The group was broken.

Martinez and his family had announced they would leave to find their family a couple of cities away. Rick had made the decision to go to the Centre for Disease Control, so the remaining survivors packed up the few belongings they had left and headed away from the city. Hopefully, they would find answers there, as well as a place to stay. Shane had disagreed and argued that Fort Benning would be better. But they all finally agreed to go to the CDC.

Once they arrived, it looked as though it were abandoned. Dead corpses were scattered all around its surrounding areas. It was getting dark. They couldn't get in. No one was there. All hope was practically lost.

"Rick, man, we need to go," Shane pleaded over Lori's cries. Walkers were beginning to stumble closer to them.

"No! The camera moved!" He remained looking at the camera that was now turned onto him, "Please! Let us in! We have women and children!"

It was chaos. The sky was dark now. They were trapped between the closed shutters of the CDC and the hungry corpses that had begun to wander their way. He could hear the quiet sobs of Carl and Sophia behind him. Lori was screaming at him to go. Daryl was also yelling that it was Rick's fault they were in this danger. Andrea and T-Dog had taken to shooting walkers. They needed help.

" _Rick_?" a small, static voice broke through the pandemonium. It was coming from a speaker.

He looked to the side and saw some of the others looking at him in confusion, but Rick had no time to ask who the voice was, "Please, help us."

And with that, the shutters slowly began to open. The group stood still and watched in a stunned silence as they were enveloped in a white, blinding light.

* * *

 **Thanks so much for reading Chapter 2! I hope you are enjoying the story so far - if so, please let me know what you think. If not, feel free to send me some constructive feedback as I'm still fairly new to writing and would really appreciate some help.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you so much to everyone who has favourited, followed and reviewed this story! I never expected to actually get any responses and it means so much to me! The opening chapters were extremely long but that was to introduce you to the character of Leia - what do you all think of her so far? I've tried to keep them a little shorter, which means there will be more updates. I hope you enjoy this chapter...**

* * *

"I'm back! Uncle Ed?" Leia called. Dropping her bag into her bedroom, she waited for a response, "Where are you?"

"She didn't get a response. Walking down the corridor and to the control room, she found her uncle hunched over one of the desks. He was talking, most likely filming another video-log, and so Leia decided against disturbing him. When her uncle was working, which was pretty much all the time nowadays, Leia learned it was best to just leave him to get on with it. He took his work very, very seriously – and she couldn't blame him for it. She supposed he had a valid reason to. Leia leant against the wall by the doorway and watched him. She immediately noted that he was more stressed than usual, if that was possible. His shoulders were tensed as he slumped back in his chair, dragging his fingers through his hair. The next thing she observed was the wine bottle beside him. It was almost completely empty. That was not a good sign.

Something had happened while she was away. Something bad.

"Tonight, I am getting drunk," her uncle declared to the camera as he poured himself another glass. He rose from the chair, staring at the bottle in his hand, and then suddenly, without warning, he turned and threw the bottle at the wall where she stood. Leia ducked, only just avoiding the glass that smashed above her head. After taking a moment to recover, she stood and glared at her uncle.

" _What the hell?!_ "

"Leia?" her uncle looked bewildered, "I- I'm so sorry. I didn't realise you were there."

Well, that wasn't new. He ignored her most of the time she was there anyway.

"Don't worry about it," she muttered, brushing off some broken glass from her shoulders. She moved toward him, "What happened?"

Silence was her reply. He often did this. Close himself up. Not let her in. He wasn't always this way. It was only after her aunt's death that he began to become more and more distant. Leia was sure it wouldn't be long before he shut her out completely.

As she moved closer, the lines in his forehead became more prominent and she saw the red that rimmed his intense eyes. Looking to his hand, she could see his fingers trembling slightly.

"Please, what's wrong?" she quietly pleaded.

He just continued looking at her, refusing to speak. His lip minutely quivered.

"Tell me," she pressed on, "What hap-"

A furious banging sound interrupted her. Leia turned away from her uncle to search for the source of the noise. She realised it was echoing down the entrance hallway. It sounded as if someone, or something, outside was hitting on the shutters.

Turning back to her uncle with a frown, she felt him brush past her and walk towards his office.

"It's just corpses," he mumbled.

It was then that Leia could also hear voices shouting. Although she could not make out what they were saying, it confirmed what was causing the noise, "Oh really? Well, since when could the corpses speak English?"

This made her uncle stop in his tracks, listen and turn back to her with a startled expression, "People?"

The thumping and muffled yelling continued as Leia ran to the control panels to switch on the live CCTV feed. Manoeuvring the position of the camera a little, it revealed a group of figures stood outside the front entrance. The noise was people - _actual people_. Night was approaching and so the darkness concealed their features. However, she could see that one shadowed figure was frantically hitting their fists against the metal shutters. The CCTV's sound had broken a couple of weeks ago and her uncle had decided not to risk going outside to fix it. At the time, it was hard to believe anyone would be coming nearby, and so the sound had no use to them. It seems they thought wrong. Therefore, Leia could not determine what exactly the figures were shouting. But by the overwhelming volume of their cries, the group was obviously in trouble.

Who were these people? Why were they here?

Leia watched as a few of the silhouettes turned away from the shutters and raised what looked to be weapons. Gun shots could then be heard through the hallways. Deadheads must have been approaching. These people were trapped. They needed help.

"Should we let them in?" Leia turned to her uncle, who was blankly staring at the screens.

He hesitated before almost inaudibly replying, "No."

" _No_?" she asked, shooting him a disbelieving look.

"No," he repeated firmly.

Leia shook her head, dumbfounded, "Wh- _what_? But these people need our help!"

No response.

"You are just going to let them die?" Leia was practically yelling at him now, "We have to let them in! We have to help!"

Her uncle didn't even turn to look at her. He simply continued staring at the footage. His face was void of any emotion.

Letting out an infuriated growl, Leia turned back to the footage. With the controls, she zoomed in on the figure that was relentlessly beating the closed shutters. As the camera moved closer, the features of the man became clearer. Leia's breath caught in her throat. It was the sheriff's uniform that she recognised first. Then the hat.

Rick Grimes. He had, unknowingly, found her again.

Gripping the microphone, she called out to him, "Rick?"

She watched as his fists hesitated as he heard her voice through the speaker. Rick turned, now certain that someone was inside. He began screaming something at the camera.

"Uncle, _please_! I know these people!" Leia begged, "We have to let them in! I know them!"

Hearing the desperation in his niece's voice, he sighed and gave a slight nod of his head.

That was all the confirmation it took for Leia to spin back around and slam her fist onto the control panel. The shutters began to open.

* * *

Rick ushered the group in, instructing them to wait in the entrance hall.

"Watch out for walkers," Daryl warned as he pulled the shutters down behind Dale, who was the last in.

Those who had weapons kept them raised, weary of who it may be that lived inside. Sure, they opened the shutters and let them in, but that doesn't mean they weren't dangerous. Who knows who could be in here?

"Hello?" Rick called out, looking around the centre, "Hello?"

The group turned at the sound of a gun being cocked. Rick snapped his gun around to the direction of the noise. He was faced with a man standing in the entrance of a long corridor. He held a gun that was pointed toward the group. The look on his face was both apprehensive and distrustful.

"Anybody infected?" the man called out.

"One of our group was," Rick explained, "He didn't make it."

The man shifted slightly closer to them, "Why are you here? What do you want?"

"A chance," Rick announced.

"That's asking an awful lot these days," the stranger uneasily quipped.

It was then that Rick noticed another figure coming closer down the corridor. His grip on the gun tightened. As they approached, he could tell it was a woman and she was carrying a...baseball bat? He faltered and dropped the gun a little as he realised who it was.

"Leia?"

Rick watched, incredulously, as she paused beside the other man and sent him a timid smile, "Hey, Rick."

He, and other armed members of the group, began lowering their weapons. Leia could feel the tension easing and confusion intensify as she scanned the puzzled expressions of the group.

Looking past the sheriff, she recognised Glenn and T-Dog from before. Daryl Dixon was also there, standing at the back of the group with his crossbow raised and ready. There was no sign of Merle, so clearly they had not been successful in Atlanta. An older man stood next to Andrea, a woman Leia also remembered from the department store. There was also Jacqui, with two other women who were both standing protectively in front of two children. There was a boy and girl, both looked to be around 12 years old. She assumed the young boy was Rick's son and that the woman who rigorously gripped onto his shoulders was his wife. The last face she registered was a bruising man with dark hair and even darker eyes that were glowering at her. Unlike the others, it seemed he was refusing to loosen his grip on the gun he was holding. Instead, he kept it completely steady and directed at her.

Leia cleared her throat, snapped her eyes away from the man and addressed the whole group, "Hello everyone. Welcome to the Centre for Disease Control."

"You live here?"

"Uh, yeah," she turned to her uncle, who was slowly lowering his gun, "This is my uncle, Edwin Jenner. He was – _is_ – a scientist here."

Leia looked back at her uncle, as if silently asking what to do next. He noticed this look and turned to the group, "You all submit to a blood test. That's the price of admission."

Rick nodded, "We can do that."

Leia gratefully beamed at Edwin as he began to walk away. She knew how hard it was for him to do this. Turning back to Rick and the group, Leia motioned with her arm for them to follow her uncle down the corridor.

As they began to file out, Leia moved past them and to the control panel by the entrance. After applying the code to secure the shutters, she turned to find Rick waiting for her.

"I know you have questions, but let's get you all settled first," she suggested, to which he nodded. She smiled, "it's good to see you again."

"You too," he replied as he followed her down a hallway to the labs.

* * *

The pair jogged to catch up with the others, who were all waiting for them in the elevator. Edwin held the doors open for them as they slipped in. To make more room for Rick, she slipped into a back corner between Daryl and another woman with short, grey hair who she gave a polite smile.

As the elevator began to move, Leia noticed her uncle looking at Rick with a curious expression. Rick seemed to notice this too and, from the other side of the elevator, she watched as the sheriff introduced himself with a handshake. The group fell into silence again.

The silence between the large group in the small, contained space began to get more and more uncomfortable as they descended. However, it was soon broken by the Dixon brother beside her.

"Do doctors always go around packing heat like that?" Daryl asked, indicating to the gun that Edwin held in his arms.

"There were plenty lying around," Edwin explained, "I familiarised myself with them."

Daryl nodded slightly in acknowledgement before turning back to watch the girl beside him out of the corner of his eye. He observed the baseball that she had tucked through her belt and wondered why she wasn't carrying a gun instead? Especially if, as the doctor said, there were so many available for her to use - surely a gun would be better? He knew what she was capable of with that bat, he had heard the stories from Rick and Glenn. He didn't get to witness it for himself that day, but he could tell by the way she carried it that she knew what she was doing. She turned to him then and caught him staring, questioningly raising her eyebrows. Daryl quickly snapped his gaze back to the elevator doors and continued the journey with an embarrassed scowl.

"You all look harmless enough," Edwin continued. He turned to the young boy standing beside him and lowered his voice to tease, "Except you. I will have to keep my eye on you."

It was a long time since she last heard her uncle being playful. It was refreshing. Maybe having these people here could have a positive influence on him?

Leia saw a smile appear on the boy's face. She noticed his eyes were the same shade of blue as Rick. The officer caught her looking and so she gave him a look, silently asking if it was his son. Rick nodded with a small smile and watched as Leia grinned back at him. She knew the trouble he endured to be reunited with his family and to see them together made her feel extremely satisfied. Rick placed an affectionate hand of his son's shoulder as they waited for the elevator to reach its destination.

* * *

"Are we underground?" the woman with grey hair asked as they followed Edwin down a corridor.

"Are you claustrophobic?" Edwin asked.

"A little."

"Try not to think about it," he suggested as they reached the end of the hallway.

Leia could tell the advice had done nothing to ease the woman's nerves and offered her a comforting smile as she passed by.

"This is Zone 5," Leia explained as the group entered the control room.

The group began to gaze around the vast room in astonishment. The space was filled with modern, unidentifiable technology. At the front there was a grand display of screens. Most of them were blank except for one which had a timer, with the numbers in a large, red font. The group were quietly admiring the centre in awe before Rick spoke up.

"Where is everybody? The other doctors and staff?"

Leia looked to her uncle and the two shared a solemn glance.

"It's just us here," Leia replied. Rick detected the pensive tone to her voice.

"Just the two of you?" Shane voiced the group's disbelief.

Ed sighed and nodded, "We are all that's left."

Leia saw how the group's elated energy seemed to deflate at this information. She concluded that they must have come here in hope of answers and perhaps even a cure. They had clearly been disappointed.

I'm sorry," Edwin faintly apologised as he began to walk in the direction of another hallway.

Leia gave the group another repentant look before following after her uncle, encouraging the others to do the same.

* * *

"Ouch," Glenn hissed as Leia pricked his arm with the needle.

"Sorry," she cringed.

"It's fine. I'm fine," he growled through grit teeth. He was breathing hard and had closed his eyes.

Leia had to try not to laugh him, "Stop being such a baby. Last time I saw you, you were planning to run out into a street full of hungry corpses. What's that compared to a harmless blood test?"

"Harmless?" Glenn shrieked, "It hurts!"

She chuckled a little as she pulled out the needle and placed a cotton pad on top of it.

"What happened in Atlanta anyway?" Leia asked, curious and also to distract him from the pain he was feeling, "Again, I'm sorry I left so quickly."

Glenn shook his head to dismiss her apology, "Merle is still missing. The plan for the guns was working but we, uh, ran into a gang."

"A gang?"

"Yeah, they sort of captured me and held me prisoner."

Her eyes went wide, "What?"

He hummed in confirmation, "They took me back to their camp and kept me there. Rick, Daryl and T-Dog had to-"

Leia listened intently to his story, however, occasionally her eyes would drift to the dark-haired man who was sat beside Rick. He was staring at her. Well, more like fiercely glaring. What was his problem?

Glenn finished telling her about the incident with the gang, the camp being over-run with geeks and the journey to the CDC.

"Wow. That's a lot to experience in 24 hours," she exclaimed.

"Yeah, tell me about it. I'm exhausted," Glenn ran a hand over his tired face.

Leia's features softened as she placed a comforting hand on his arm, "I'm just glad that you are OK."

"Me too," he absent-mindedly murmured. His eyes suddenly went wide, "I meant 'me too' as in I'm glad _you_ are OK. Not that I'm glad that _I'm_ OK. I mean, well, I am glad that I'm OK but that's not why I-"

"Glenn!" she laughed to prevent him from stumbling over any more of his words, "I know what you meant. Now go and sit down. Get some rest."

He nodded to her in appreciation before moving to the seats across the room. Leia stood from her chair and walked towards Rick.

He smiled and stood as he saw her coming, "Hey."

"Hi," she waved before looking at the man beside him expectantly. He continued to simply glare at her.

"Oh, Leia, this is Shane Walsh. He was my colleague and friend before all this," Rick introduced.

"Nice to meet you," Leia said with a smile.

The man, Shane, grunted at her before telling Rick he needed to help Andrea carry some of the bags from the entrance hall. He pushed past her with a light shove, leaving Leia to stand there with a stunned expression. Before she had time to question it, Rick spoke up.

"What's the point in these blood tests anyway? If we were infected, we would all be running a fever."

"I know," Leia began, looking over to her uncle as he prepared another needle, "He's a scientist working for the CDC. It's his job to find a cure for diseases and, in case you haven't noticed, there is a pretty major epidemic going on at the moment. I suppose he wants to collect some more data to study. It's important work but I think it just gives him something to do. Working to keep his mind off of things, I guess."

Rick nodded in understanding as she continued, "Also, I think he just wants to be reassured that none of you are going to try to bite him in his sleep."

They shared a small chuckle before Rick spoke up again, "Why didn't you tell us you were here?"

Leia took in a deep breath. She knew this question would be coming and wasn't entirely sure what to answer, "It was wrong of me to keep it from you, I know, but I just didn't find the right time to say it. Considering we were trying to escape the city alive, I thought there were other priorities than sharing that information. My uncle also isn't the most trusting man, as you can probably tell. I don't think he would have appreciated me turning up on the doorstep with a group of complete strangers. It was hard enough convincing him to let you all in here a today."

Rick contemplated this for a moment. Leia took that as a sign of resentment, "Rick, I'm so sorry. I should have said someth-"

"No, no I'm not angry. Not at all. I get it," He explained with a small, reassuring smile. She let out a breath of relief.

"Dad?"

A small voice cut into their conversation and the pair turned to find the small boy looking up at them. His eyes were flickering between the familiar face of his dad and the stranger beside him.

"Hey, little man," Rick grinned, "this is Leia."

"Hi, it's good to finally meet you. Your dad told me about you back in Atlanta," she reached out, offering her hand to the little boy.

He was hesitant at first, staring at her hand before looking to his dad for approval. After Rick gave a nod of his head, he eagerly gripped onto her palm and shook it. A large, toothy smile spread over his face, causing Leia's grin to widen too.

"I'm Carl!"

"Have you had your blood tested yet, Carl?" she asked.

The boy shook his head and so she motioned for him to follow her to the stool. As he sat down in front of her, Leia prepared the needle.

"Now, this might sting a little at first," she confessed, "but are you brave?"

He nodded his head enthusiastically.

"Good, because Glenn over there almost cried like a baby," she nodded her head in the young man's direction. Carl let out a small giggle and offered her his arm. He winced slightly as the needle made contact with his skin but smiled back up at her.

"Are you _Princess_ Leia?" he asked.

Leia stilled, dumbfounded, for a little while, "what?"

"Princess Leia. That's what Glenn called the lady who helped save my dad."

Leia tried to fight back a goofy smile, "Then, yes. I am Princess Leia."

Carl smiled and looked over his shoulder, "that's my mom."

Leia followed his eyeline to look at the dark haired woman sitting beside the sheriff. The lady raised her arm in greeting when she noticed them looking her way. Leia returned the wave. So that was Lori.

The little boy's eyes lit up when he turned back to her, "Do you have the baseball bat?"

"Glenn told you about that too, huh? Yeah, it's in my room. I never leave here without it."

"Can I see it?" the boy eagerly asked .

"Of course, I'll show it to you tomorrow. You need to rest first."

She cleaned up his arm and placed a plaster over it. Looking up, she saw her uncle collecting the samples and placing them on a tray in his arms. As he went to leave, Edwin caught her eye and she gave him a thankful nod. He sent her back a small smile before disappearing into the hallway. The moment was disrupted by Carl's stomach growling.

"When was the last time you all ate?" Leia asked the rest of the group.

"It's been a while," Rick admitted.

"Right, who's hungry?"

A shrill chorus of eager pleads was the response.

"Ok, the canteen is this way…"

* * *

 **Thanks so much for reading Chapter 3! I hope you are enjoying the story so far - if so, please let me know what you think. If not, feel free to send me some constructive feedback as I'm still fairly new to writing and would really appreciate some help.**


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